Author:  Ellen Hopkins

Hardcover
ISBN:  9781416950073
625 pages



Book Description:

"When all choice is taken from you, life becomes a game of survival."

Five teenagers from different parts of the country. Three girls. Two guys. Four straight. One gay. Some rich. Some poor. Some from great families. Some with no one at all. All living their lives as best they can, but all searching...for freedom, safety, community, family, love. What they don't expect, though, is all that can happen when those powerful little words "I love you" are said for all the wrong reasons.

Five moving stories remain separate at first, then interweave to tell a larger, powerful story -- a story about making choices, taking leaps of faith, falling down, and growing up. A story about kids figuring out what sex and love are all about, at all costs, while asking themselves, "Can I ever feel okay about myself?"

A brilliant achievement from New York Times best-selling author Ellen Hopkins -- who has been called "the bestselling living poet in the country" by mediabistro.com -- Tricks is a book that turns you on and repels you at the same time. Just like so much of life.

My Thoughts:

I really admire Ellen Hopkins and her ability to tackle the tough issues.  This book is no exception.  I had so many emotions while reading this book - anger, sadness, angst, hopefulness, despair - which I think is the point of Ms. Hopkins's stories.  It's so hard for me to imagine that teenagers actually face these types of issues.  It really saddens me.  You just want to jump into these stories and protect these kids and try to make their lives better. 

This is a book about love and sex.  Or sex and love?  I'll let you decide.  There are a lot of serious issues that are addressed in this book - drug use, homosexuality, rape, prostitution, and even religion.  You will cringe, but you will also be spellbound and be unable to put the book down.  Five teenagers, from different walks of life, trying to find their way; trying to find love; and trying to grow up in very difficult world. 

I highly recommend Ms. Hopkins books - they are not easy reads, but they will definitely make you think about life and about what kids are facing these days.  TRICKS is a powerful story and one I won't soon forget.

Candidly written by Pam's best friend, Run At Destruction exposes the irresistible human passions that make us so vulnerable and the ultimate price we pay for choosing to act on them. You'll relive every detail of the crime and the exhaustive police investigation, and watch the courtroom drama from a front-row seat as a major homicde case unfolds in a small town where everyone knows all the players. Then, when you've heard all the evidence, you can decide for yourself - was Pam Bulik's death a terrible accident, intentional suicide, or premeditated murder?

About the Author:

Lynda Drews, a Wisconsin native and dedicated runner, recently gave the commencement speech at the University of Wisconsin La Crosse, her college Alma mater. One lesson she shared with the graduates was: "to journal your life." When Lynda, an IBM marketing executive, made the decision to retire after her thirty-year career, she returned to an earlier passion. Run At Destruction is the outcome.

Lynda and her husband, Jim, a retired guidance counselor and an accomplished runner, have two sons, Collin and Chris, and a golden retriever named Bailey. The family has lived in GreenBay since the mid-seventies and helped launch the local running movement. The city now hosts the nation's fifth largest 10K, the Bellin Run.

Details:

• You don't have to select your books ahead of time, you can just add them as you go. Also if you do list them upfront then you can change them, nothing is set in stone! The books you choose can crossover into other challenges you have on the go.

• If you decide to participate in this challenge please use the links at Book Chick City with the buttons to post on your sidebar, this way others can find their way back to this post and join in the fun.

• If you decide to join this challenge be sure to create a post telling others, please make sure you add a link back to this post so others can join in.

• You can join anytime between now and the later part of next year.

• There will be a place for you to link your reviews, but this is optional.

I already know of 2 books that I will read for this challenge (Sweetheart and Evil at Heart by Chelsea Cain), but I will add the others as I go!  Looking forward to this!

Book List:

1. Look Again by Lisa Scottoline (January)
2. Shadows Still Remain by Peter de Jonge (January)
3. The Last Surgeon by Michael Palmer (February)
4. Scandal Sheet by Gemma Halliday (March)
5. Shakespeare's Champion by Charlaine Harris (March)
6. 9th Judgment by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (March)
7. Worse Case by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge (March)
8. Oblivion Road by Alex McAulay (March)
9. Live to Tell by Wendy Corsi Staub (May)
10. The Quickie by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge (May)
11. The Postcard Killers by James Patterson and Liza Marklund (June)
12. Private by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (June)

Publication Date:  March 9, 2010

Synopsis from the author's website:

Reminiscent of Jennifer Weiner’s In Her Shoes and Emily Giffin’s Something Borrowed, this smart, funny and poignant debut novel explores the desire to have it all, the relationships that define us, and the complicated, irreplaceable bonds of sisterhood.

Twenty-nine year old Lindsey Rose has, for as long as she can remember, lived in the shadow of her devastatingly beautiful fraternal twin sister, Alex. Determined to get noticed, Lindsey is finally on the cusp of being named Creative Vice President of an elite New York advertising agency, after years of 80 plus hour weeks, migraines, and profound loneliness. But during the course of one devastating night, Lindsey’s carefully-constructed life implodes.

Humiliated and desperate, she flees the glitter of Manhattan and retreats to the time warp of her parents’ Maryland home. As her sister plans her lavish wedding to her prince charming, Lindsey struggles to maintain her identity as the smart, responsible twin, while she furtively tries to put her career back together. But things get more complicated when a long held family secret is unleashed that forces both sisters to reconsider who they are and who they are meant to be.

I love books about family relationships, so I'm really looking forward to this one!  What is your WoW pick this week?

                     

                                      

The Murderer's Daughters      The Other Side of Blue       
Randy Susan Meyers                    Valerie O. Patterson
       
                      

The Weight of Silence              Some Girls Are
Heather Gudenkauf               Courtney Summers

         

Cracked Up to Be               Happy Hour
Courtney Summers          Michele Scott



The Blind Side by
Michael Lewis





No Covers Yet:

Looking for a Love Story: A Novel :: Louise Shaffer

A Glimpse of Evil: A Psychic Eye Mystery :: Victoria Laurie

What's on YOUR Wishlist this week?

Author:  Melissa Senate
Trade-Size Paperback
ISBN:  9781439107171
340 pages




Book Description:

As 28 year old New York paralegal Rebecca Strand's widowed father lays dying, he confesses a secret: he had an affair 26 years earlier when Rebecca was just a toddler. Now he wants Rebecca to deliver the secret stash of letters he wrote, but never mailed, to the daughter he fathered. Rebecca's lawyer boyfriend, Michael, is adamant that she forget the woman exists. He's sure the woman will be an opportunist who will demand half of Rebecca's father's million-dollar estate. But Rebecca, now without any family in the world, can't help but wonder about her one living relative. With her relationship with Michael in tatters, Rebecca drives from New York City to Maine to find Joy Jayhawk, who operates a Weekend Singles Tour service out of an orange mini-van that her regulars dub "The Love Bus." Enter a cast of lovable, colorful characters, from Joy's eccentric mother to the singles on The Love Bus, and a sexy carpenter for whom Rebecca finds herself unexpectedly falling in love...

My Thoughts:

Melissa Senate has become one of my favorite authors.  She is able to create such realistic, relatable characters and intriguing storylines, many times drawn from her real-life experiences.  THE SECRET OF JOY is no exception.  I literally did not want this book to end.  I loved all of the characters and the story held so much depth and meaning. 

I have been wanting to visit Maine for years.  This book makes me want to go there SO much more!  Hopefully one day I will be able to take an extended vacation and go there with my husband.  The picture that Ms. Senate paints is one of beauty and peace.  I love reading books set in Maine, so this one was extra special because of that!

Rebecca's journey of self-discovery felt so real to me.  I felt like I was with a friend when I was reading this book.  I'm not going to go through the synopsis again.  The only thing I can say is that if you are a fan of women's fiction, this book is a must read.  I would not classify it as chick lit, because it has much more depth and delves into serious relationships.  It's definitely much deeper than chick lit.

The only thing I can say is that I loved this book and I very highly recommend it!!  5+ stars! 

Interested in winning a copy of this amazing book??  I'll be posting a giveaway shortly, so stay tuned!!! 

Abby Shaw has returned to her hometown of Paradise, Colorado--leaving behind a career in corporate law and a cheating husband--to take over her aunt's candy shop, Divinity. But her sweet new life quickly turns sour when a fellow merchant dies in a fire. With all clues pointing to arson--and Abby's brother as the number one suspect--she must sink her teeth into finding the killer.




Annie and Eve are life-long best friends who have absolutely nothing in common-except a lack of skill in the kitchen. So when they sign up for a cooking class at the local gourmet shop, they figure the only things at risk are a few innocent fruits and vegetables. But on the first night, Annie and Eve see their fellow student Beyla arguing with a man-a man who later turns up dead in the parking lot. Now the friends feel bound to uncover whatever secrets she's hiding, before someone else's goose-perhaps one of their own-gets cooked.


Angela Russo finds herself in Maine thanks to a sailing instructor, an impulse, and an idea that in Maine, people live "the way life should be." But reality on Mount Desert Island is not what she expected. Far from everything familiar, Angela begins to rebuild her life from the ground up. Relying on the flair for Italian cooking she inherited from her grandmother, she begins to discover the pleasures and secrets of her new small community—and to connect her heritage to a future she is only beginning to envision.


ARC for review:

Kevin Curran wants to unite his family, but he's ready to give up on his younger brother, Danny-three years lost to heroin addiction and hard, desperate living on the streets of New York. When Danny shows up on Kevin's Staten Island doorstep, looking clean, fit, and prosperous, Kevin can't help but be overjoyed that his brother has escaped his past life. But at what price? Not even Kevin's worst nightmares could have prepared him for the horrors he'll discover about his brother's dark history.

After a brief reunion, Danny offers Kevin a role in an underworld plot revolving around the Bloodroot Children's Hospital, an abandoned juvenile asylum with a nefarious past. Hoping to rescue Danny from his criminal life after years ago failing to save him from his addiction, Kevin accepts.

While Danny's plan unfolds, Kevin is drawn into a world of murder, Mafia hit men and dangerous espionage. The halls of Bloodroot reveal one horrifying secret after another: about the building's history, about Danny's life of addiction and crime, and about the true roots of the Curran family. At the end of the maze of monsters, the brothers make a discovery so horrific it may force them to destroy each other.


Not in my mailbox, but from the Library!  I couldn't wait any longer to read the final book!

When you loved the one who was killing you, it left you no options. How could you run, how could you fight, when doing so would hurt that beloved one? If your life was all you had to give, how could you not give it? If it was someone you truly loved?

To be irrevocably in love with a vampire is both fantasy and nightmare woven into a dangerously heightened reality for Bella Swan. Pulled in one direction by her intense passion for Edward Cullen, and in another by her profound connection to werewolf Jacob Black, a tumultuous year of temptation, loss, and strife have led her to the ultimate turning point. Her imminent choice to either join the dark but seductive world of immortals or to pursue a fully human life has become the thread from which the fates of two tribes hangs.

Now that Bella has made her decision, a startling chain of unprecedented events is about to unfold with potentially devastating, and unfathomable, consequences. Just when the frayed strands of Bella's life--first discovered in Twilight, then scattered and torn in New Moon and Eclipse--seem ready to heal and knit together, could they be destroyed... forever?

The astonishing, breathlessly anticipated conclusion to the Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn illuminates the secrets and mysteries of this spellbinding romantic epic that has entranced millions.

What was in YOUR mailbox this week?

I am hoping to get some feedback from my readers regarding my book giveaways.  In the past, in order to enter a giveaway, you just had to comment on the post with your e-mail address.  If you wanted additional entries, you would perform one of the actions (Tweeting, adding to blog roll, etc.) and make a separate comment about it. 

I have been reading through the book blogging world that commenters were starting to get spammed since their e-mail was publicly out in cyberspace.  To be certain that my readers did not get spammed and to help protect their privacy, in my current giveaway, COPPOLA:  A PEDIATRIC SURGEON IN IRAQ, I decided to devise a Google form.  I think the form works very well and only I can see the e-mail addresses of the entrants.

Perfect solution, right?

Well, not so much.

Responses to this giveaway have been almost half of what I was getting for previous giveaways where you only had to comment on the post.  I'm not sure if it's just the subject matter of the book or if it has to do with the form.  Is the form too much work?  Too confusing?  The book is wonderful and I thought there would be a huge response, so I'm wondering if it is the method of entering that is daunting to potential entrants.

I would love your feedback on this issue.  Go back to comments or continue using the form?  Feel free to comment or e-mail me at js1997 (AT) gmail (DOT) com.

Thank you so much for reading this and I appreciate your thoughts!

Happy Reading,
Jennifer

Attention all Book Bloggers - you have to read this fantastic article written by Fauzia Burke from FSB Associates!

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Publication Date:  January 12, 2010

Description from Amazon:

Love, in its many forms and complexities, weaves through this collection by Amy Bloom, the New York Times bestselling author of Away. Bloom's astonishing and astute new work of interconnected stories illuminates the mysteries of passion, family, and friendship.

Propelled by Bloom's dazzling prose, unmistakable voice, and generous wit, Where the God of Love Hangs Out takes us to the margins and the centers of real people's lives, exploring the changes that love and loss create. A young woman is haunted by her roommate's murder; a man and his daughter-in-law confess their sins in the unlikeliest of places. In one quartet of interlocking stories, two middle-aged friends, married to others, find themselves surprisingly drawn to each other, risking all while never underestimating the cost. In another linked set of stories, we follow mother and son for thirty years as their small and uncertain family becomes an irresistible tribe.

Insightful, sensuous, and heartbreaking, these stories of passion and disappointment, life and death, capture deep human truths. As The New Yorker has said, "Amy Bloom gets more meaning into individual sentences than most authors manage in whole books."

The Secret of Joy by Melissa Senate Trade Softcover Simon & Schuster Downtown Press ISBN:  978-1-4391-0717-1 330 pages

Book Description:

As 28 year old New York paralegal Rebecca Strand's widowed father lays dying, he confesses a secret: he had an affair 26 years earlier when Rebecca was just a toddler. Now he wants Rebecca to deliver the secret stash of letters he wrote, but never mailed, to the daughter he fathered. Rebecca's lawyer boyfriend, Michael, is adamant that she forget the woman exists. He's sure the woman will be an opportunist who will demand half of Rebecca's father's million-dollar estate. But Rebecca, now without any family in the world, can't help but wonder about her one living relative. With her relationship with Michael in tatters, Rebecca drives from New York City to Maine to find Joy Jayhawk, who operates a Weekend Singles Tour service out of an orange mini-van that her regulars dub "The Love Bus." Enter a cast of lovable, colorful characters, from Joy's eccentric mother to the singles on The Love Bus, and a sexy carpenter for whom Rebecca finds herself unexpectedly falling in love...

My Thoughts:

I am a huge fan of Melissa Senate.  She has a gift for drawing the reader into the story and holding our attention until the last page.   I am still in the process of reading this book, but I love it so far.  The premise is so intriguing and I am looking forward to seeing where the story goes.  I like to read these books slowly so I don’t miss anything!  She’s one of my feel-good authors.  I always know I’m going to get a great story and meet some wonderful characters.  I’ll post my final thoughts later this week! 

On My Wishlist is a weekly meme hosted by Book Chick City, which allows us to share the books we haven't bought yet but are waiting to be bought and devoured. If you would like to take part and have your own 'On My Wishlist' post then you can find more info here.  If you have read any of these books, do let me know if it is worth my time!

Here are the books I've added from November 10 - November 16 (I added a lot of books!):

Publication Date:  June 1, 2010

Description from the author's website:

What if you could see into the future? What if you didn't like what was revealed? Would you still choose to see it?

Tilly Everett has a wonderful life - a guidance counselor in her old high school, a solid marriage to her teenage sweetheart, a quiet, compact existence which suits her just fine. Her father has wound his way out of his alcoholic blackness, her youngest sister has shed most of the wounds from their mother's death, and Tilly watches over them, over everyone to ensure that there are no sudden movements, no tidal waves to upset their balance.

But a chance meeting with a childhood friend changes that. Changes everything.

I'm giving you the gift of clarity, Ashley Simmons tells her in an incense-filled tent behind Westlake's Fourth of July carnival, and suddenly, Tilly - like it or not - starts seeing things, things that don't logically add up, that fly in the face of the foundation that she's worked so hard to build. And like an unspooling spindle, these unwelcome visions alter everything Tilly has come to believe about herself, her marriage, her life.

What if you could see into the future? Would you want to know what fate has in store? Would you furiously try to change it, despite the fact that the future might be cast in stone?

These are the questions that Tilly faces, the destiny she races against, as she tries to determine which life she wants: the one she'd nursed for decades or the one she never considered to be possible.

Publication Date:  March 9, 2010
 
Book Description from author's website:

Reminiscent of Jennifer Weiner’s In Her Shoes and Emily Giffin’s Something Borrowed, this smart, funny and poignant debut novel explores the desire to have it all, the relationships that define us, and the complicated, irreplaceable bonds of sisterhood.

Twenty-nine year old Lindsey Rose has, for as long as she can remember, lived in the shadow of her devastatingly beautiful fraternal twin sister, Alex. Determined to get noticed, Lindsey is finally on the cusp of being named Creative Vice President of an elite New York advertising agency, after years of 80 plus hour weeks, migraines, and profound loneliness. But during the course of one devastating night, Lindsey’s carefully-constructed life implodes.

Humiliated and desperate, she flees the glitter of Manhattan and retreats to the time warp of her parents’ Maryland home. As her sister plans her lavish wedding to her prince charming, Lindsey struggles to maintain her identity as the smart, responsible twin, while she furtively tries to put her career back together. But things get more complicated when a long held family secret is unleashed that forces both sisters to reconsider who they are and who they are meant to be.

Publication Date:  May 13, 2010
 
Book Description from author's website:
 
The year is 2041, and for sixteen year old Molly McClure, her life now is pretty much the same as it’s always been. She was only six when The Collapse of ’31 happened, ending life as the world’s population had known it. For grown-ups everywhere, the changes in their daily routines since The Collapse are a constant source of anxiety and worry. Not to mention bitterness at what they feel they’ve been cheated out of; abundant food and goods, ease of travel and communication, and financial security.
 
In Molly’s opinion, adults spend way too much time talking about the good old days. Sporadic electricity, bicycles, horses, solar powered tractors, sewing, cooking and farm work are all Molly’s ever really known, so she doesn’t waste a lot of energy worrying about what things used to be like. Life after The Collapse is just normal for her. At least until she finds herself forced to leave the comfort of her home and small island in British Columbia to travel down to Oregon.

What starts out as a quick trip to the United States to convince her grandfather to come back to Canada and be the island’s doctor, turns into a rescue mission, a test of Molly’s strengths, ingenuity, and sheer determination. She faces an unknown world where people are hungry, desperate, and sometimes even ruthless. But she also meets many helpful people, makes new friends, and is tested in ways she couldn’t have imagined.

Will a farm girl like Molly survive in this upturned world? Will she be able to return with her grandpa in time for him to help her ailing mother? And just how much will she have to compromise to succeed in getting back to British Columbia with her grandparents?

Publication Date:  December 29, 2009
 
Book Description from author's website:
 
Paradise wasn’t supposed to suck.
 
Not the state of being, but a resort in the Caribbean. Jena, Dakota, Skye, and Owen are all there for different reasons, but at Paradise their lives become tangled together in ways none of them can predict. Paradise will change them all.

It will change Jena, whose first brush with romance takes her that much closer to having a life, and not just reading about those infinitely cooler and more exciting. It will change Dakota, who needs the devastating truth about his past to make him realize that he doesn’t have to be a jerk just because people think he’s one. It will change Skye, a heartbreakingly beautiful actress, who must come to terms with the fact that for once she has to stop playing a role or face the consequences. And it will change Owen, who has never risked anything before and who will take the leap from his online life to a real one all because of a girl he met at Paradise….

From confused to confident and back again, one thing’s certain: Four months after it all begins, none of them will ever be the same.

Publication Date:  February 9, 2010
 
Book Description from Amazon.com:

It is 1940. France has fallen. Bombs are dropping on London. And President Roosevelt is promising he won't send our boys to fight in "foreign wars."

But American radio gal Frankie Bard, the first woman to report from the Blitz in London, wants nothing more than to bring the war home. Frankie's radio dispatches crackle across the Atlantic ocean, imploring listeners to pay attention--as the Nazis bomb London nightly, and Jewish refugees stream across Europe. Frankie is convinced that if she can just get the right story, it will wake Americans to action and they will join the fight.

Meanwhile, in Franklin, Massachusetts, a small town on Cape Cod, Iris James hears Frankie's broadcasts and knows that it is only a matter of time before the war arrives on Franklin's shores. In charge of the town's mail, Iris believes that her job is to deliver and keep people's secrets, passing along the news that letters carry. And one secret she keeps are her feelings for Harry Vale, the town mechanic, who inspects the ocean daily, searching in vain for German U-boats he is certain will come. Two single people in midlife, Iris and Harry long ago gave up hope of ever being in love, yet they find themselves unexpectedly drawn toward each other.

Listening to Frankie as well are Will and Emma Fitch, the town's doctor and his new wife, both trying to escape a fragile childhood and forge a brighter future. When Will follow's Frankie's siren call into the war, Emma's worst fears are realized. Promising to return in six months, Will goes to London to offer his help, and the lives of the three women entwine.

Alternating between an America still cocooned in its inability to grasp the danger at hand and a Europe being torn apart by war, The Postmistress gives us two women who find themselves unable to deliver the news, and a third woman desperately waiting for news yet afraid to hear it.

Sarah Blake's The Postmistress shows how we bear the fact that war goes on around us while ordinary lives continue. Filled with stunning parallels to today, it is a remarkable novel.


 
Description from Amazon:
 
Add beauty to your home (no matter how much space you have) with these easy-to-follow container garden recipes from P. Allen Smith. Each card includes a list of plants, step-by-step planning instructions, and a diagram showing you how to design your garden. These recipes are printed on tabbed cards that you can bring to your gardening center or nursery.


 
Book Description from the Publisher:
 
In this beautifully illustrated guide, self-confessed bibliophile Leslie Geddes-Brown offers inspirational solutions and practical tips on how to make the most of books in every room and forgotten nook of the house. Lavishly illustrated throughout with photographs featuring homes from around the world, this engaging guide will inspire all bibliophiles to get the best from their beloved books and turn any room into a magical place.


 
Book Description from Amazon:
 
Lia and Cassie are best friends, wintergirls frozen in matchstick bodies, competitors in a deadly contest to see who can be the skinniest. But what comes after size zero and size double-zero? When Cassie succumbs to the demons within, Lia feels she is being haunted by her friend’s restless spirit.

In her most emotionally wrenching, lyrically written book since the multiple-award-winning Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson explores Lia’s descent into the powerful vortex of anorexia, and her painful path toward recovery.



Book Description from Amazon:

On the foggy streets of Seattle, a serial killer known as the Street Butcher is terrorising the city. Newspaper photographer Nick Wilder is accustomed to seeing gruesome homicide scenes. But when the Street Butcher claims Nick's brother his latest casualty, the case suddenly becomes very personal. Determined to find his brother's killer, Nick stumbles into a dizzying labyrinth of deceit and danger. As he digs deeper, Nick discovers his own past holds a key to unmasking a clever, diabolical psychopath. But the real motives behind the murders are as cold and stark as Seattle's winters - and much more blood will spill before Nick learns the horrifying truth.

  
Book Description from Amazon:
 
Never in one place long enough to make friends or put down roots, Colie doesn't expect her trip to the North Carolina coast to change a thing. Always the outcast, she's resigned to a holiday with only her eccentric aunt Mira for company. But when she finds a job waitressing at the Last Chance cafe, she also finds acceptance, new friends, and the beginnings of romance...


 
Book Description from Amazon:
 
Ruby is used to taking care of herself. But now she’s living in a fancy new house with her sister Cora—a sister she hasn’t seen in ten years—and her husband Jamie—creator of one of the most popular online networking sites. She’s attending private school, wearing new clothes, and for the first time, feels the promise of a future that include college and her family. So why is she so wary? And what is Nate— the adorable and good-hearted boy next door— hiding behind his genial nature? As Ruby starts to see, there’s a big difference between being given help, and being able to accept it. And sometimes, in order to save yourself, you’ve got to reach out to someone else.


 
Book Description from Amazon:
 
It’s been so long since Auden slept at night. Ever since her parents’ divorce—or since the fighting started. Now she has the chance to spend a carefree summer with her dad and his new family in the charming beach town where they live.
 
A job in a clothes boutique introduces Auden to the world of girls: their talk, their friendship, their crushes. She missed out on all that, too busy being the perfect daughter to her demanding mother. Then she meets Eli, an intriguing loner and a fellow insomniac who becomes her guide to the nocturnal world of the town. Together they embark on parallel quests: for Auden, to experience the carefree teenage life she’s been denied; for Eli, to come to terms with the guilt he feels for the death of a friend.

In her signature pitch-perfect style, Sarah Dessen explores the hearts of two lonely people learning to connect.


 
Book Description from Amazon:
 
Fifteen-year-old Colie is spending the summer with her eccentric Aunt Mira while her mother travels. Formerly chubby and still insecure, Colie has built a shell around herself. But her summer with her aunt, her aunt's tenant Norman, and her friends at the Last Chance Diner teaches her some important lessons about friendship and learning to love yourself.
 
 
And, finally, one that I couldn't find a cover or description for, but is from a beloved author:
 
Heart of the Matter :: Emily Giffin
Publication Date: May 11, 2010

What's on YOUR Wishlist this week?